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George Tobolowsky (American, b. 1949), Mountain Springs Sculpture Studio, 2009 and five new ideas, 2009. Welded stainless steel with lacquer. University Art Collection, SMU, Dallas. Gift of Barbara and Donald Zale, 2011. UAC.2011.02.01.02. Click on image to enlarge |
 GEORGE TOBOLOWSKY: MOUNTAIN SPRINGS SCULPTURE STUDIO AND FIVE NEW IDEAS, 2009 Although George Tobolowsky first delved into his artistic practice during an undergraduate sculpture class at SMU, it was not until later in life, nearly thirty years later, that he would fully return to his interest. Tobolowsky, a native Texan born in Dallas in 1949, attended SMU in the 1960s and 1970s, receiving a Bachelor of Arts degree in Accounting with a minor in Sculpture in 1970, and a degree in Law in 1974. While at SMU, Tobolowsky studied under Texas artist James Surls, who became his mentor and friend. But upon graduation, Tobolowsky entered the business world, and spent the next several decades garnering a successful professional career. Despite maintaining an involvement with the arts, Tobolowsky was not producing art himself, until about ten years ago when he felt an inspiration that he could not ignore. With the ever faithful encouragement of his mentor Surls, Tobolowsky embarked on his own artistic path, and his output over the past decade has been prodigious. Tobolowsky’s practice is based upon the creation of abstract metal sculptures from found objects. These found objects, however, are not of the everyday sort, but rather bulky industrial metal castoffs that Tobolowsky must scour scrap yards and fabrication plants in order to find. The artist rarely alters these metal pieces once he collects them, and instead works to fit the individual scraps together—much like the pieces of a jigsaw puzzle—into balanced compositions. His practice, one part assemblage and one part recycling, follows closely with the philosophy of another of his early artistic influences, Louise Nevelson, who said, “When you put together things that other people have thrown out, you’re really bringing them to life….” Mountain Springs Sculpture Studio and five new ideas are both fine examples of Tobolowsky’s assemblage practice. In each, individual industrial parts seamlessly converge to form a larger whole that takes on a new life all its own. The titles, typically added upon completion, offer a suggestion for interpretation but mindfully allow room for various readings within each piece as well. These two works, which represent a logical extension of the welded steel sculpture tradition that can be traced from Julio González and Pablo Picasso to David Smith, will join the Meadows’s collection of modern sculpture, adding to the dialogue already present between Smith’s Cubi VIII (1962) and George Rickey’s Two Open Rectangles Horizontal (1983-84), among other works. Their addition to the Museum’s collection will build further upon aesthetic and educational opportunities for discussion while providing recognition of one of SMU’s own. |
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